Ganguly, who writes columns and also commentates in international cricket matches, will be allowed to continue with his media commitments.

NEW DELHI Former India cricket team captain Sourav Ganguly has been inducted into the Supreme Court appointed Mudgal committee that has been mandated to probe the IPL spot-fixing and betting scandal including investigating the 13 names that are contained in the sealed envelope that it had submitted to the court in February.

"We had approached Ganguly and he has agreed to join us," Retired Justice Mukul Mudgal told ET. "He will help us with advice on cricketing matters." Apart from Justice Mudgal who heads it, the panel also includes senior advocated L Nageswara Rao and Niloy Dutta and IPS officer BB Mishra.

Ganguly, who writes columns and also commentates in international cricket matches, will be allowed to continue with his media commitments.

Rahul Mehra, a Delhi-based lawyer who has taken the cricket administration to court on several occasions says this is a step in the right direction. "He is one of the rare players who doesn't have an established conflict of interest, though he has a contract with one of the broadcasters. For the last 20 years he has known the ins and outs of Indian cricket. He was also in the team when the 2000 matchfixing episode happened. He would surely help the committee with some valuable insights," says Mehra.

The IPL betting and spot-fixing scandal had rocked the seventh edition of the T20 tournament. Just before the end of the tournament in 2013, Delhi Police arrested three Rajasthan Royals cricketers — S Sreesanth, Ashok Chandila and Ankeet Chavan — on charges of alleged spot fixing.

Later in May, BCCI president N Srinivasan's son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan was arrested by the Mumbai Police after actor Vindoo Dara Singh told the police that he had bet on some IPL games for the CSK boss. In its report, the Mudgal committee had indicted Meiyappan in the scandal.

Later the council for the petitioner Cricket Association of Bihar, Harish Salve had accused Srinivasan and India team captain MS Dhoni of covering up Meiyappan's role in IPL franchisee CSK in front of the Mudgal Committee. The Supreme Court had asked the committee to select a cricketer of 'impeccable integrity' after which names of Ganguly and former cricketer Mohinder Amarnath started doing the rounds.